An unforgettable road trip | México, D.F.

A few weeks back, my aunt, uncle, two tiny cousins, and I set off on an awesome road trip from Mexico City to Playa del Carmen (near Cancun) and back.

12 days, 5000+ km, 8 states, many tacos, countless Volkswagens, lots of tolls, a close call with a scorpion, a lot of luck on the road, one filthy Burger King, and almost two books later (I got through The Martian and 90% of Les Miserables on the road) we made it back. Here’s the scoop.

The rules of the road trip:

1) Arny (my uncle) and I take turns driving the Tiguan.
2) Fabi (my aunt) always rides shotgun. Thanks to a drunk driver, she had a compound tib-fib fracture in late November and is still a long way from healing. It was the only way she could comfortably do this.
3) Lola (7) and Nicolás (9) provided the entertainment from the back seat.
4) Vocho pido is the name of the game. While we had fun playing the alphabet game and trying to figure out what fruits, veggies, cities, and soccer players start with X, the competition really got going with vocho pido. The game is simple, but fierce.

See a VW beetle (old or new, it’s a vocho, either way) or a combi (mamá del vocho) and be the first to call it out, you (or your team) get a point. Ties (if people said it simultaneously) were 0s. First to 10 won. No cheating (which was nearly impossible for Lola, who consistently saw vochos that no one else did).

After delaying departure a few hours, we figured out how to make everything fit in the back and hit the road around noon.

First stop: unremarkable Villahermosa, Tabasco.

Leaving in a Santa onesie probably wasn’t the best idea given how hot it progressively became as we moved south, but, hey, I was in the spirit and didn’t want to waste an outfit on a drive day. When you only have so many clothes in your backpack, you gotta maximize their use.

As we worked our way south the verdant scenery kept changing and growing. It was beautiful for the most part, going from sparsely to fertile soil for coffee and sugar cane, to outright jungle. What was not beautiful were the roads in Tabasco, which were the worst of the entire trip. Arny and I had to have our A-game because bad lighting and huge potholes aren’t a good combination to face driving at night through desolate areas.

The only redeeming quality of Villahermosa was the taco stand next to the hotel, which had been recommended to us: La Vaca Sagrada. Their spit-roasted sirloin tacos were the main attraction (and rightly so), but the rest of their tacos were quite good, as well. So much so, that we ate there on the return leg, too.

Next stop: Bacalar, Quintana Roo (or at least we thought, until accommodations were sold-out).

We got the show on the road early the next day, as we would be stopping in Palenque on our way to Bacalar, which was about 8 hours away, given our detour to see the archeological site.

I have been to a few busy ruins before, but the crowds here were out of control. Long line to get tickets, long line to get into the site, and masses inside. It felt like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland on a holiday weekend.

Nonetheless, we nabbed a guide for 20% of the price we were originally quoted (bargain, people! Dont be that guy paying 1000 pesos when you could be paying much less) and strolled around for about 90 minutes. With the pending drive, the stifling heat and humidity, and Fabi waiting in the car (archeological sites and crutches don’t really mix here), it was a good call and still gave us enough time to go inside a pyramid, go up another, shop for a thing or two, and enjoy the site.

We ended up in Chetumal that night, which had less redeeming qualities than Villahermosa, but at least the name wasn’t misleading and I got this great pic of Lola.

The next morning, we got going to Bacalar. It was about 40 minutes and a world away. It truly was a good as people had told us.

Beautiful, shallow, fresh, warm water in a stunning blue and turquoise shade, few tourists, and great food at the private beach we decided on after a couple of false starts on public beaches.

 

Final stop: Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo.

That night we reached our final destination, Playa del Carmen, where my uncle lives with his wife and kids in an awesome new neighborhood with a pool, soccer field, tennis courts, and a 2km track Arny, Nicolas, and I put to good use almost every day (thankfully, as we ate our way through some huge, tasty meals, both at home and at restaurants).

It was a great place to stick around a little over a week, celebrate NYE, crown a new family FIFA champ (hint, it wasn’t an adult) & chubby bunny champ (me! 10 marshmallows), and just hang out and talk.

 

 

Having a base there allowed us to hit Tulum for the day twice (nice beach, bad infrastructure, way too many tourists, pricey), head to the ruins at Chichén Itzá (fantastic!), and visit Akumal (must-go, it’s a public beach), where were snorkeled with sea turtles, stingrays, and lots of fish in calm waters.

The main drag in Playa del Carmen, La Quinta, was super touristy and not my cup of tea. Crazy prices (pricing in dollars and euros; my Starbucks pour-over was almost 25% more expensive there than in Mexico City) tons of American stores, English everywhere. I can only imagine how bad Cancun is.

But those tourist dollars also meant that Quintana Roo had the best roads on the trip. Everything was in pretty much perfect condition, which made for easy, nearly stress-free driving.

You gotta take the good with the bad, I suppose, and thankfully most of our time was spent with family, away from the masses.

On the 6th we loaded up in two cars and headed to Merida. Mauricio and fam would circle back to Playa that day and we would continue our trip back to D.F.

Never in our lives had we seen so many vochos. It was insane and far more than in Puebla, where they were/are made. Needless to say, vocho pido got called off. There were simply too many, and in every single direction.

After hopping on a Turibus, walking around a bit, and having a meal together, we celebrated Dia de Reyes with the traditional rosca..at Costco (didn’t really have a choice)! It was a good time, after which we headed to our hotel and Mauricio and co. went back to Playa. Merida was a really nice little town.

After a nice run (9k for Nicolas!) and some Starbucks, we set off for Villahermosa, with a stop in Campeche.

What a great stop that was. The food and service were on point at La Pigua, sunset did not disappoint, and strolling through Campeche surprised us all to the point everyone wants to go back and really have time to soak it in. It was clean, well-lit, façades were preserved…it felt like we were in a small, Spanish town. They even had a fun light show that was surprisingly good.

We left only a few hours after arriving, as the road called and we had to make progress back to D.F., as Arny was going to throw down an amazing meal for a friend’s party. The last 36 hours on the road were long and rushed, but worth it. I mean, look at what he cooked up!

As they say, nothing ever goes according to plan, and so it was that we never made it to Villahermosa that night. Between the time we spent in Campeche, and a 30 minute stop to enjoy one of the most beautiful, starriest skies I have ever seen, we spent the night in Ciudad del Carmen.

The last day on the road seemed to go on forever. We left at 10 am and arrived in Mexico City around midnight. We had a lot of ground to cover, plus we were one of the first on the scene at a bad accident between Puebla and D.F.

Had we gotten there 30 seconds earlier and we would have been part of it; 30 seconds later and we would’ve been stuck in traffic probably until the sun went up. Thankfully, the kids were mostly asleep when we went through it.

A rolled over Expedition, a box truck, a semi. Two dead. Arny was driving and we pulled over to see how we could assist. Other than calling for help and joining others in removing some debris from the road so we could get through, there was, unfortunately, not much we could do. Needless to say, if I don’t have to hear the chilling wails of a mother as she bemoans the death of her young son ever again, I’d be ok with it. It was terrible. I am not sure how first responders can deal with this sort of situation on a regular basis.

It shook us all up to the point where none of the adults rested much that night. A good reminder that were are lucky and that life is precious. You just never know.

Despite the somber finish, it was a helluva fun, memorable ride full of beautiful scenery, singing, reading, good talks, and, despite the many miles and exceeding the speed limit like it was our job, only one run-in with a police officer and another with a menacing speed bump. Spending nearly two weeks on the road with some of my favorite people, seeing part of Mexico I had been really eager to see (which is why my flight to South America was originally slated to depart from Cancun), doing things I had been wanting to do for a long time (hello, swimming with sea turtles!).